Feb 9, 2016

Working from home

image:en.wikipedia.org

In the last few years, people have started working from home more often than in the past.
This trend has caught on, and now you have a lot of people having home offices
from which they do the majority of their work. But, working from your home
office is a bit different than working from a regular office. Read more about
some tips on working from your home.

1. One of the first things you
should do is create a daily work schedule. When working from your home, it is
very easy to mix up personal time with work time. One of the biggest
distractions is really your family, so you need to tell them not to bother you
when you’re working.

2. Think about your social life too. When you’re at the office, you socialize
with people, you talk to them. But, when you’re working from your home, you
don’t really talk to anyone. You lose that, and if you don’t socialize outside
your work, you’re going to be miserable. So, in your free time, try to be with
people. It will keep you energized and ready to do more work.

3. Get into a virtual business
community. LinkedIn is great for that. Try joining a community of people that
have something to do with your line of work. It will show the people around you
your expertise and that you are out there, that you are actually connected to
your work.

4. Think about your retirement
savings. When you don’t really have an employer, retirement savings can take a
dive. You won’t be really getting the amount to put into your savings plan, so
you need to think about this hard and well and create a plan for your
retirement savings.

5.Your IT skills need to
be quite high. When you’re working alone, with electronic devices, things
can sometimes go bad, and help may not be available any time soon. So, you need
to have the right skills to fix the issue yourself.

6. Think about the paperwork. When
you’re working with a small business that is out of your home, you need to
think about the paperwork, like licensing, permits, registrations for taxes and
things like that. Make sure everything is legal, you don’t want to get in
trouble with the law.

7. Insurance is a big thing, so don’t forget about it. Think hard and well
about what kind of insurance you want and need to get, and get it. It is really
important for your home business.

8. Your family shouldn’t
suffer because you work from home, but boundaries need to be set. Of course,
you shouldn’t lash out at them because of noises or stuff like that, you can’t
expect everyone to not do anything at all when you’re working from home. But,
make sure you set boundaries for your family. They should know that you are
working, and that you shouldn’t be distracted, if possible, at all.